基督教美学理论的源泉——试论普罗提诺的本体形上美学

Sources of the Christian Aesthetics:Plotinus' s Meta-ontological Aesthetics

普罗提诺在其《九章集》开篇就在阐释柏拉图和亚里士多德的意义上谈到美,他更多地在理念和至一中探求美的基础;他提出了从具体事物到美的德行、最终再到至一之美的本体形上的美学秩序论,他将美视为存在,要求人返回自身以寻求内在于人的至美,这不仅体现出他的美学的心理观察的品性,而且也成为以奥古斯丁为代表的基督教哲学"返回内心深处"的学说的先声;他不仅在本体形上层面讨论至一之美、精神之美,而且也在其中探寻艺术美学,认为艺术涌出于艺术家的直觉,对于直觉的理解就是智慧,这是其作品之可观想性的基础。普罗提诺的美学思想对于基督教东西部教会学者的哲学思想和美学观都具有重大影响,其成就至今依然是美学史上的一个高峰。

Even in the beginning of the'Enneaden',Plotinus has explained aesthetics from the perspectives of Plato and Aristotle. He tries to inquire the basis of aesthetics through ideas and the One; he forms the order from the beauty of concrete things to the beauty of virtue and the One. He sees the beauty as Being and demands that man should return to the depth of his own heart,which is the prelude to the Christian philosophy represented by Augustinus. Moreover,he discusses the beauty not only in the sense of the One and spirit but also that of the aesthetics of art. He thinks that art arises from the intuition of artists and the understanding of intuition is wisdom. Plotinus' s aesthetics has had deep influence on the Christian church until today,especial their aesthetics and philosophy,and remained a culmination in the history of aesthetics.